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What does no-deal Brexit mean for your employees?

Embrace HR Aylesbury No Deal Brexit

As the UK goes hurtling towards a no-deal Brexit – general elections, resignations and repeat referenda notwithstanding – what are the issues for employees, especially the EU citizens, and how can HR professionals help?

EU Settlement Scheme

If your organisation employs people from the EU and Switzerland, they can apply for the EU Settlement Scheme – this is something you can support them with. The scheme is designed to help them, along with their family members, attain the correct immigration status needed to stay in the UK.

This is not only vital for them but will enable your company to retain its experienced staff, allow for continuation, and avoid the costs and time taken to recruit new staff.

There is an employer’s toolkit online [GOV.UK: EU Settlement Scheme: employer toolkit], which will help you to help them to find the right information and guidance.

More than a million people have been granted the correct status through the scheme, and should we end up with a no-deal Brexit, the deadline for applying will be 31 December 2020, so it’s important to get on this as quickly as possible.

If we leave the EU on October 31, your employees must be resident in the UK by that date to be considered, so if you are in the middle of recruiting, you will need to get a move on!

Those who have been resident here for more than five years are likely to receive ‘settled’ status, while those with less than five years of continuous residence are likely to be awarded ‘pre-settled’ status. Once they complete five years, they can apply for settled status.

What about your staff members who work abroad in EU Member states? How can you help them?

You will be responsible for letting them know about any changes to visa or residency requirements. In the short term, each state has been advised to give resident permits to any UK citizens living in the EU, but what will happen in the longer term is not so clear. You will need to keep up to date with each country’s policies, which are published by the European Commission.

What will happen in the future?

If you employ EU/Swiss citizens after the October 31 deadline, they will still be able to stay here for up to three years, by applying for European Temporary Leave to Remain. After that time, they will be subject to the UK’s new immigration system – which is set to apply from January 2021.

The system will have requirements such as job offer, minimum salary and skills – you can see all the details here [GOV.UK: The UK’s future skills-based immigration system]. However, it is still open to change.

Travel abroad

Does your company send staff abroad for meetings or to speak at conferences? The good news is that UK citizens will be exempt from any visa requirements for visits of up to 90 days if they are business related.

Workplace rights

No changes will be made straight away, but you should ensure you have plans in place and a degree of flexibility to deal with any changes without interrupting your business operations.

Keep them informed!

Nobody likes to be kept in the dark. Keep your staff informed about possible changes, and company actions that are being taken to manage Brexit. Senior management should be instrumental in being as open as possible about contingency plans, being reassuring about any changes, and demonstrating that the organisation is prepared for whatever happens. This stops rumours circulating and affecting morale among staff members.

You can find more information on how to plan for Brexit with the CIPD’s Continuity Planning for HR Brexit and beyond.

You might like to refer to our other articles on Brexit here:

If you would like to discuss this subject further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

If you would like to receive our quarterly newsletter, please sign up here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also SMEs based in London.

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Feeling hot? How to keep staff happy in a heatwave

Embrace HR Aylesbury water bottle heatwave

As the weather heats up again this week, experts predict UK summers will continue to get hotter, keeping staff happy, healthy and motivated will be ever-more important…

The latest research suggests that the next three years could be ‘anomalously warm’ [BBC News: Next few years ‘may be exceptionally warm’ 14/08/2018].

The years up to 2022 could see extreme temperatures according to the research, which appeared in the journal Nature Communications [Nature Communications: A novel probabilistic forecast system predicting anomalously warm 2018-2022 reinforcing the long-term global warming trend 14/08/2018].

With the trend expected to see some of the hottest-ever summers in the UK, it is important that employers consider how they will ensure their staff remain comfortable and happy during hot weather.

This is especially key in a country where air coolers and conditioners are not the norm.

As many modern buildings are made from glass, it is unsurprising that offices can start to feel like greenhouses. Of course, manufacturing and warehouse buildings have similar issues. So much so that the TUC (Trades Union Congress) is calling for a change in the law to ensure that no indoor workplace temperature is higher than 30°C (27°C for strenuous work) and that employers bring in cooling measures when the temperature hits 24°C.

At present, no legislation exists – instead government guidance [GOV.UK: Workplace temperatures] says that indoor workplaces must be a ‘reasonable’ temperature, with a suggested minimum of 16°C (13°C for physical work) but no maximum temperature suggested.

It makes perfect business sense to ensure your staff are not too hot. After all, it is hard to be productive in a stuffy, hot building.

And you are more likely to see absenteeism during a heatwave – watch out for a rise in sick days on Mondays and Friday. It’s understandable that it’s hard to feel motivated when the sun is shining, the office is boiling and a day in the garden or a trip to the coast is more inviting than a sweaty, long commute and hours stuck in the office.

So what can HR departments to do help? Here’s a few ideas:

Flexible hours

If your business allows for flexibility, let staff come in and leave earlier or later to avoid the hottest parts of the day and the rush hour. You’ll see a difference on Fridays if staff know they can set off early for a weekend trip, barbecue or pub garden!

Relax the dress code

Keeping cool is the priority, but you need to set the boundaries – and remember it needs to be a fair and non-discriminatory dress code. Spend some time compiling a straightforward and easy-to-follow dress policy to keep things simple. For instance, shorts are allowed but not swim/gym wear or hot pants or denim – but of course it depends on the workplace. Sandals are on the list but not flip flops (due to health and safety concerns). In more formal settings, look at where the rules can be relaxed a little to make everyone more comfortable – do people really need to wear ties?

Hydration is key

Your staff need to stay hydrated. Ensure your water coolers are full and refilled regularly. Make sure your staff have water bottles with them and that they are keeping them filled.

Cool treats

If the mercury is really rising, consider a cool treat for your staff. Maybe provide a cool box filled with ice creams and lollies. Perfect on a really hot Friday afternoon when everyone is starting to wilt.

Aircon matters

Air conditioning – if you have it – should be well maintained so that it can cope with extreme temperatures. And if you are lucky enough to have it, windows need to be kept shut, so the air con can work as efficiently as possible.

For buildings without the benefit of air con, circulate the air by opening windows – and bring in some oscillating fans to help.

Turn it off

Finally – it may seem silly, but turn off the lights! Keep the heat down by turning off non-essential electrical items – that includes lights, unused computers, photocopiers and so on.

If you would like to discuss the subject of trust or flexible working further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

If you would like to receive our quarterly newsletter, please sign up here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also SMEs based in London.

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Don’t treat ’em mean – the importance of workplace culture

Embrace HR Aylesbury Workplace Cultire

Workplace culture is the most important driver for staff, according to recent research…

We often write about the importance of looking after staff and investing in creating the right kind of workplace culture, and a recent survey conducted by Speakap has confirmed just how vital this is.

How important is workplace culture?

According to the survey [Speakap: Research Study – The Culture Factor: Improving Employee Loyalty and Relationships], 42% of employees would rather have a 60-hour working week, than work for a company that doesn’t value its workplace culture.

The study asked 1,000 employees from the UK and the US how important workplace culture can be when it comes to attracting and retaining staff – a massive 58% said they would move to a rival company if the workplace culture was more attractive.

And the most important part of that workplace culture, according to those employees? Respect and fairness, trust and integrity, and teamwork.

How can HR departments help?

And this is where HR departments come in… does your workplace culture need reviewing? How often do you do this? Do managers think that offering the odd free lunch or team night out is enough? Clearly, this survey shows that this is not what people are looking for.

While the social aspect may be attractive, especially if you have a young workforce, for older employees with other commitments outside of work, it is the way they are treated during the working day that will be most important.

When you are in a workplace for seven hours or more each day, being able to benefit from open and honest communication with more senior staff is far more rewarding than a couple of free drinks on a Friday afternoon. And, in the long term, knowing that your company is committed to helping you to learn new skills and invest in training you is far more valuable than an annual big party, which costs the staff member money in childcare and a hangover the next day on the school run!

Five ways to assess your workplace culture

  1. Take a look at your onboarding process: make sure your process is up to date and engaging, and helps the new member of the team learn everything they need to know to get up and running in a speedy and efficient manner.
  2. Are your senior staff open with employees? Times have changed and leadership needs to be open to change too.
  3. Take a look at reward schemes – it doesn’t all need to be about bonuses – especially if they mean your staff pay more tax. Think of more personal ways to say thank you.
  4. Encourage teamwork – work with staff to help teams work better with each other – to be supportive, co-operative and to communicate better.
  5. Ask your staff! Feedback from employees about how they feel about work, the company, their everyday challenges, will give you a great picture of your workplace culture – a lot of negative feedback will tell you there are some changes to be made!

Stop Press

As you may be aware, on Tuesday 16 July, MP Helen Whatley used the 10-Minute Rule to bring her innovative Flexible Working Bill into parliament. The bill was given approval to go to a second reading today on Wednesday 17 July – this development is a triumph for the organisations behind the campaign, who have been working tirelessly for the past 5 years to bring this to fruition [The House – Helen Whately: Employers should make all jobs flexible by default 15/07/2019].

Mother Pukka, Pregnant then Screwed, Fatherhood Institute and Fawcett Society joined forces to create the Flex For All campaign, calling on government to demand flexible working, meaning that all job roles must be advertised as flexible from day one of employment.

Anna Whitehouse aka Mother Pukka commented: ‘We have been campaigning over 5 years for effective flexible working and today it seems the tide is turning. It feels like the Government is listening, businesses are listening and that the people are being listened to! Finally flexible working is being seen as something for people – all people – and not just ‘mummies who want to see more of their babies’. Crucially, this is now being seen as something that is not just good for employees but ultimately it’s proven to be very good for business too. Flexible working is simply for people wanting to live and often those with responsibilities beyond their control. Those people who want to get off the 9-5 hamster wheel, those who want to work the odd day from home, those living with disabilities, those with medical conditions, those with caring responsibilities – the list goes on. Today is a huge moment for the #FlexAppeal #FlexForAll campaign. Today is the first day we have been heard.’ 

You might also be interested in reading our other blogs related to this subject matter:

Is Flexible Working Your Friend?
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Being the Best – Starting at the Top
Is Yours a People Company?

If you would like to discuss the subject of trust or flexible working further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

If you would like to receive our quarterly newsletter, please sign up here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also SMEs based in London.

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Chalk it up to experience

Embrace HR Aylesbury adult-brainstorming-businesswoman

Focusing on employee experience is vital if you want to improve recruitment and retain your team. We look at some simple ways to help you make your employee experience better…

How often have you looked at how you can improve your customer’s experience? Whether it is updating the online buying process or improving sales aftercare, it is probably something you do as a matter of course.

And yet while you are busy ensuring that your customers have the best experience – acknowledging that they live in the 21st century and can make the most of all that technology can offer them – many companies are just not doing the same for their staff!

Of course, it is easier for the big names, such as Google, to offer flexible working, staff incentives, team building days out, social opportunities and so on, but there are things that smaller companies can focus on too.

Making sure that your employees get the best possible experience ensures that you will be able to recruit the best people – and retain them on your payroll too. Not only that, but if they are getting the best experience from work, this will be passed on to your customers, with staff being more focused, more efficient and more likely to be enthusiastic ambassadors for your brand.

After all, in so many sectors – retail, sales, media, hospitality and so on – your staff are your best asset. Surely it makes sense to take care of them, including their health and safety etc – the same way you would ensure your lorries were well maintained if you were a transport company, or your servers were looked after if you were an IT company.

Research also shows that a positive employee experience results in better productivity. [IBM Smarter Workforce Institute: The Employee Experience Index, September 2016].

Keep up to date

First, take a look at the tools you expect your staff to use. In a world where virtually every home has a laptop, smartphones, tablets and even smart TVs, coming to work and having to use an out-of-date operating system, or slow laptop can be frustrating and can really impact on their productivity.

Allowing your staff access to social media – in the right environment and with guidance – shows that you respect their work ethic and besides, so much work contact goes on around social media now – LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and so on are useful business tools now, not just time-wasting fripperies. However, it is important to recognise that in some workplaces and certain situations, this would not be appropriate.

You should also be open to your employees’ thoughts and opinions. Organise regular group meetings to bounce ideas around, or where they feel enabled to bring up any issues without fear of retribution. Or perhaps use technology – Microsoft Teams or Yammer maybe – to have group discussions. Particularly appropriate if you have staff who work at home, or from other remote locations.

Stay flexible

Ensuring the satisfaction of employees who don’t come into the office or who work from a less central location is key. Allowing them to book holidays using cloud software, or to update documents and project paperwork held in a central location will enable them to feel more engaged.

Talk to us if you would like to learn more about HR cloud software.

Offering flexible working will also help to retain staff, especially those who may have family commitments. Allowing the opportunity to work at home, or to stagger hours to enable them to drop the kids at school, or look in on an elderly relative can make their lives a lot easier, resulting in less stress for them, and allowing them to concentrate on work during their allocated hours. They are also far more likely to stay loyal to a company that acknowledges that they have a life outside of the office.

Thanks for everything

Recognising your employee contributions is also vital. And it needn’t cost the earth. Just a compliment about someone’s work can be enough – maybe some lovely fancy biscuits by the kettle to say thanks to the team for a job well done? If you can afford a lunch out for the team – great – but grand gestures are not always necessary. If someone has done something to really raise your productivity or made a major sale, a bonus or pay rise may be in order, but it’s amazing how just an acknowledgment of a great idea or creative effort can really boost someone’s mood. As can a chance to advance their career. Offering your staff opportunities to improve themselves and advance within your company will ensure they don’t move on elsewhere.

Not all positions lend themselves to promotion, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t offer training to help people broaden their skillsets. And in order to help them keep up in an ever-changing world, ensure there are opportunities to gain skills in the latest technological advances – social media skills for the marketing team perhaps, as well as training in any new software that you bring on board.

Employee experience

The user experience for your employees should be as good as the user experience for your customers. Think about the processes within your company. How easy is it for new staff to find out how everything works, how they can apply for holidays, or overtime? If a member of staff needs to take maternity leave, how easy is it for them to access the necessary information?

And how easy is the day-to-day experience at work? Is there car parking? If not, how does your company help them to find or pay for a space? Is the commute to your office a nightmare? Could you stagger office hours to make this easier?

These little things can make a big difference to your staff and allow them a better work/life balance – which ultimately is what many of us are looking for.

If you would like to discuss this subject further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

If you would like to receive our quarterly newsletter, please sign up here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also SMEs based in London.

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Mental Health Awareness week: Workplace stress

Embrace HR Aylesbury Mental Health Awareness

How would you feel if your employees were putting their own mental health at risk in their bid to succeed at work? We look at how you can be aware of how workplace pressures can affect your staff and how you can help…

As May 13-19 is Mental Health Awareness Week, make this the time to take a look at the mental wellbeing of your staff.

How often do your staff work outside of their set hours? Is there a culture of ‘presenteeism’ in your workplace – where anyone who leaves the office at five, or works part-time, or has time off sick, is looked down on, or considered a slacker?

According to the CIPD, presenteeism has quadrupled since 2010 [CIPD: Presenteeism hits record high in UK organisations as stress at work rises 02/05/2018] and according to Personnel Today the trend is rising for employees to go into work when feeling mentally unwell [Personnel Today: Mental health presenteeism on the rise 10/10/2018], and yet more staff are taking time off sick.

What has come to light in research from wellbeing charity CABA, is that as many as three-quarters of HR professionals believe that making a good impression at work is having a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of employees.

Technology has a part to play in this – thanks to smartphones we are all available 24-7, at the end of the phone or contactable via email. And businesses can be guilty of expecting staff to check emails or take calls over weekends and evenings when they are not officially contracted to work.

Take a walk through your workplace after the official end of the day. How many staff are still in the office? If there are more than you expected, ask yourself why – ask them why! Being realistic, there will always be someone who has a deadline or a major project coming up who is likely to put in more hours, but this should not be the norm.

Encouraging this culture puts stress on your employees. They end up working late, maybe drinking to wind down after the day, or not having time to spend with family, exercise, or enjoy a hobby.

Having well-rested staff is only going to benefit your organisation. A well-rested team with a good work/life balance will perform better, be more focused and less likely to make careless mistakes. They are also less likely to suffer from physical or mental illness.

Think about how you can help your staff enjoy good mental wellbeing. Conduct a survey to find out how much they feel they must stay behind after working hours, discover how much work is actually done during that time, and why people feel they need to work past their normal hours.

Ensure that senior managers and line managers are on board and understand the issues, as they will have a great impact on preventing these unhealthy working practices.

Establish guidelines around contacting staff outside of working hours and when they are on annual leave.

Finally, work out whether there is a culture of presenteeism or if there are too few staff to deal with the workload. HR can be the champion of promoting a healthy work/life balance. Have some fun with it – maybe if working overtime through the week is an issue, think about introducing an early home time on a Friday afternoon, or as some companies do, turning Friday afternoon into a social downtime.

If you would like to discuss this subject further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

If you would like to receive our quarterly newsletter, please sign up here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also SMEs based in London.

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All change! Employment law alterations in April 2019

Embrace HR Aylesbury changes April 2019

It’s vital that HR professionals keep up to date with changes in the law – here’s a rundown of the most recent updates…

Itemised pay statements

The right to receive an itemised pay statement has been extended to workers, rather than just employees from 6 April 2019.

If you have staff whose pay varies depending on the hours worked, the pay statement will have to include the total number of hours worked as well.

There are two ways to show this: it can be included either as an aggregate figure or as separate figures for different types of work.

Increase to National Minimum Wages

Both the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage have risen as of 1 April 2019. Hourly rates are now as follows:

 

Under 18

18-20

21-24

25 and over
National Minimum Wage

£4.35

£6.15

£7.70
National Living Wage

£8.21

Apprentices now receive £3.90 an hour and a daily accommodation offset of £7.55.

Statutory sick and family pay

The rate for statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental pay has also increased. From 7 April 2019, it has upped to £148.68 a week.

Statutory sick pay has increased to £94.25.

Remember to update any of your policies or documents that mention these rates.

Statutory redundancy pay calculations

There are also new limits on statutory redundancy pay. Members of staff who have been employed for two years and are made redundant must be paid based on their weekly pay, length of service and age. The maximum weekly pay is now £525.

Employment tribunal award limits

Likewise, the limits on tribunal awards and other amounts payable under employment legislation has increased. The maximum amount of a week’s pay for calculating the basic award for unfair dismissal is now £525, and the maximum amount for unfair dismissal has upped to £86,444.

Pension contributions

The minimum amount for auto enrolment has increased since 6 April – to 8% of an employee’s qualifying earnings, with at least 3% coming from employers, with employees making up the difference.

It is also important to note that employers must complete re-enrolment every three years. The date for this will depend on your original staging date.

If you would like to discuss any of the above points further, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

If you would like to receive our quarterly newsletter, please sign up here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also with SMEs based in London.

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Is flexible working your friend?

Embrace HR Aylesbury Flexible working

As a government initiative looks to increase the uptake of flexible working, we look at the pros and cons and legal requirements for HR departments…

The desire to have flexible working is a big pull for prospective candidates.

According to a survey by web conferencing company powwownow.co.uk, 81 per cent of people say that flexible working would make a job more attractive to them and 35% would prefer flexible working over a pay rise.

What’s more, the Flexible Working Task Force, which sees business groups, government departments, charities and trades unions come together, launched a campaign in January with the aim of increasing the number of people flexible working. At the same time, the CIPD report, Megatrends: Flexible Working, highlighted the reasons why flexible working opportunities are being missed – limited options provided by employers, the attitudes of managers and employees’ negative assumptions about the consequences of flexible working.

So being able to offer flexible/agile working is becoming more and more important – and is likely to help you retain existing staff, as well as attracting the widest and best range of candidates.

So what are the pros and cons of flexible working for employers, and what is the legal stuff you need to know when implementing a flexible working policy?  Read on to find out…

Pros

When it is hard to find good staff, it makes sense to make your company as appealing as possible – and offer benefits that will help retain your best employees. Make sure you promote it within your organisation and externally when recruiting new staff.

Offering flexible working as a benefit helps to boost morale among your workforce and can cut down on absenteeism and lateness. It will also promote loyalty and commitment. You will find that staff turnover decreases too. It also helps to promote your organisation as a family-friendly place to work. One of the less considered benefits is that staff can work when they perform best – larks can start early and night owls can work later into the evening – this is another benefit for you if you have a customer-facing business as you can provider longer customer service hours.

Cons

Like all initiatives, there are bound to be some downsides.

For instance, some staff will not have the self discipline to work from home and are likely to binge-watch Netflix instead! And managers who are used to seeing when and where people are working may find it hard to disconnect and not be able to micro-manage their staff, as they like.

Where people work within a team, you will need to ensure there are guidelines put in place to make sure that every member of the team does what they need to. You may need to adopt a culture change if office-based workers consider that home workers are not pulling their weight. It’s amazing how people who spend hours chatting, smoking and gathering at the water cooler or kettle, can resent someone working at home with none of these distractions!

Likewise, a compressed week can be tricky for customer-facing jobs where clients expect someone to be on call five days a week.

The legal stuff

It is important to note that although employees do not have the right to flexible working on demand, they do have the right to submit a request to their employer.

Employees with 26 weeks of continuous service can make a statutory flexible working request and only one request can be made in any 12 months. The request, which must be made in writing, may include a change of hours or place of work.

As the employer you must deal with the request in a ‘reasonable manner’. According to the ACAS code you should discuss the request promptly and allow the employee to be accompanied at meetings. While there are no time limits currently for carrying out any particular step, the entire process (from request to appeal outcome) should be concluded within three months -unless the parties agree to extend this time limit.

An employer can only refuse a statutory request for one of the eight statutory business reasons – these include the inability to reorganise work or the burden of additional costs.

Be aware that if you operate a blanket ban on flexible working, you could leave yourself open for discrimination claims. For instance, should an employee need to work from home occasionally because of childcare problems, or because of as disability, it could lead to a claim of indirect discrimination. Be aware that job applicants can also claim discrimination; so rejecting a candidate who has asked you to consider flexible working can also be an issue.

If an employer agrees to flexible working, that makes a permanent change to the employee’s contract of employment, and your organisation then decides on a blanket ban on flexible working, it has, in effect, changed that contract of employment – and you could be liable for breach of contract or unfair dismissal.

If you would like to discuss this subject further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also with SMEs based in London.

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To be or not to be employed: bank workers

Embrace HR Aylesbury Bank Workers

Bank workers are the mainstay of the care industry, yet HR professionals have struggled for years to define whether they are employees. A recent employment tribunal may have answered the question…

What are bank staff?

The term refers to a pool of people that an employer may call on when they need to cover shifts, holidays or just need extra staff as and when. They are prevalent in the care industry – many nurses and care assistants are on call when they are needed in care homes, hospitals and other health facilities. It is also a form of employment used for industries where work is seasonal.

When workers are classed as bank staff, there is no obligation on the part of the employer to provide regular work, nor is there an obligation for the worker to accept any shift or work if it is offered.

While employees benefit from the ability to get extra staff at short notice, for the bank worker there is none of the security of a permanent position, and none of the protection that is usually offered to employees.

For some bank workers this is perfect – they may only want to work on a very flexible basis, perhaps to work around their partner’s shifts, or around other obligations they have – perhaps caring for their own children or grandchildren, for instance.

However, where a bank worker has been used by one employer on a regular basis, there have been instances where they have taken the employer to a tribunal – arguing that in fact they are actually an ‘employee’ rather than a ‘worker’ and that they should be afforded the same rights.

Little v BMI Chiltern Hospital UKEAT/0021/09

A recent case involved Mr Little, who took the BMI Chiltern Hospital Trust to Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). In Mr Little’s case, he had been working regularly for the BMI for various periods over nearly 16 years, working an average of between 20 and 30 hours a week as a bank theatre porter.

Written agreements were in place that confirmed that the work would be on an ‘as and when’ basis, that no work was guaranteed, and that Mr Little was perfectly entitled to refuse any work offered. However, there was a stipulation that if he refused work on four consecutive occasions, or was unavailable to work on four consecutive weeks, he would be removed from the bank.

The unfair dismissal claim resulted when the BMI terminated the arrangement for Mr Little to work on the bank.

However, because only employees can bring a claim for unfair dismissal, a pre hearing review had to be held to decide if he was an employee or not. Thanks to the fact that there was no obligation on the part of either party to provide or accept work, the tribunal decided he was not an employee and his claim failed.

That was not the end of the story – Mr Little appealed the decision, on the basis that each separate period of work for the BMI equated to a separate contract of employment and that during each period, there was mutual obligation.

However, the tribunal decided that while there were separate contracts, these were for freelance services and not employment contracts, so his appeal failed.

So, what does this mean for employers?

While you may think this means that you will never be at risk of bank staff claiming that they should have the rights of an employee, you would be wrong. Each case will still be judged on its own values.

However, HR teams should ensure that the following are in place to ensure that they are in a strong position should they ever find their company facing a tribunal:

  1. Ensure there is a written contract outlining both parties’ obligations.
  2. Ensure you conduct regular reviews of how and when bank staff are employed – ensuring that they are not regularly used for the same role, or same regular hours for instance.
  3. Written confirmation that the bank worker understands there is no mutual obligation.
  4. Ensure there is provision made for shifts to end partway through with no obligation for you to pay for unworked hours.

If you would like to discuss this subject further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also SMEs based in London.

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Why you need a mental health first aider

Embrace HR Aylesbury Mental Health

We all know that a company must have appointed first aiders, but who is taking care of your staff’s mental first aid?

Did you know 57% of UK workers (MIND: Half of workers have experienced poor mental health in current job, 11/09/2018) have experienced some issue with their mental health? And yet, while there is a legal requirement to have a first aider on site in case someone gets hurt at work, there is no such requirement for looking after your staff’s mental health.

However, that could be set to change. Last month, a debate took place in Parliament on legislative change around mental health first aid in the workplace. A cross-party group of MPs backed a motion to introduce legislation that would see mental and physical first aid placed on an equal footing. The move followed a public petition that garnered 200,000 signatures and the backing of 50 UK businesses and 60 MPs.

HSE – the independent regulator for work-related health – has also released guidance on mental health first aid (HSE: First aid needs assessment).

The problem with mental health issues is that they carry extra challenges – the stigma attached to it, the fear that revealing issues to your employer will put your job at risk, that colleagues and managers will judge you… Little surprise that a survey conducted by Mental Health charity Mind revealed that while half those surveyed had experienced a mental health problem, only half of that number had discussed it with their employer.

Aside from the human cost of ignoring mental health issues in the workplace, there is a financial cost too. According to the Centre for Mental Health Mental ill health costs UK employers £34.9 billion each year (Mental Health at Work: The business cost ten years on, 05/09/2017).

Why you need mental first aiders

If you have trained mental first aiders within your organisation, they will gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding mental health and the impact it can have on people.

They will also learn how to spot the signs of those who are struggling and gain the confidence to lead them in the direction of the support they need.

Like physical first aiders, it is not the job of your mental first aiders to ‘cure’ anyone with issues – they are there to spot the signs and point people in the direction of professionals who can help them further.

Mental first aiders can help to empower those who have long-term issues and enable them to thrive in the workplace. They can also help prevent mental health issues arising in the workplace by helping to create a supportive culture.

How to get mental first aiders trained

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an internationally recognised training course. It can teach your staff how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health, offer help and guide them to the appropriate support.

Mental Health First Aiders need to complete a two-day MHFA course. See mhfaengland.org for more details.

If you would like to discuss this subject further and how it could help your business, please contact Cecily Lalloo at Embrace HR Limited.

T: 01296 761 288 or contact us here.

Based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Embrace HR Limited supports business owners who do not have their own HR department or those that do but need help from time to time. We also work across the Home Counties of Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and also SMEs based in London.